Day 8

December 28^th 2007

At sea today as well. We entered the Straits of Magellan (Estrecho de Magellanes) early this morning and weaved in and out of the famed Chilean fjords throughout the day. Our ship’s navigation systems are quite advanced and getting through these fjords is a much easier task nowadays than it was when they were first traversed. We were expecting most of the fjords to be covered in snow, but given the time of year (it is almost summer here), very few are snow capped. The surrounding mountains however are covered with snow year-round. Lining the Straits of Magellan en-route to Punta Arenas which lies further south are five magnificent glaciers. This stretch of glaciers is called the International Glacier Passage. They are Glacier Espana (Spain), Glacier Romanchik (only one to be named after an explorer), German Glacier, Glacier Italia and Glacier Franca (French). With the exception of Glacier Espana, every other one was spectacular and mammoth in size. It was fascinating to see some of the massive expanses of ice stretching down from the top of the mountain all the way to the straits. There was also a clear differentiation between the colors where the fresh waters from these glaciers mixed with the salt water of the straits.

While taking pictures of these glaciers, the captain announced that we had a visitor at the front of the ship – a blue whale was guiding our ship into Argentinean waters. I sprinted out to the bow just in time to see a massive head emerge, spray a large column of water and dive back down with a full show of its barnacle covered tail. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any pictures as I was fumbling with my camera while trying to keep my eyes on the whale. I managed to get some video footage of the sinkhole that the whale created while diving under. My first ever whale sighting!!

Dinner was spent with fellow passengers playing a Murder Mystery game. Neha played the role of the Ship Hospitality Director who just got fired by the captain (who was murdered) and was also having an affair with the Ship’s First Mate (who turned out to be the murderer). I played the role of an undercover KGB agent assigned to eliminate a Russian defector and the captain (a CIA informant). Most of us correctly guessed who the murderer was and I had the opportunity to perfect my Russian accent.

Do-zavtra